Hangzhou Grand Theatre

This guide to Hangzhou Grand Theatre follows conductor Lan Shui as he raises his baton on New Year's Day 2005 before an orchestra whose players have never performed together, flown in from Los Angeles, Berlin, Cleveland and Singapore to fill a moon-shaped hall that had barely been finished. It traces the building's rushed opening, from a staff that had never run a professional theatre to a stage backed by a pool built to stand in for West Lake. Listen for the nerves behind the scenes as ushers seat sixteen hundred people who don't yet know what they're about to hear.